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President Lee Jae Myung speaks at a joint press convention with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan following their summit in Ankara, Turkey, on Nov. 24, 2025. (Yonhap)
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung boarded a airplane certain for Seoul on Tuesday, the ultimate day of his go to to Turkey after a 10-day, four-nation tour across the Center East and Africa.
After the Group of 20 summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, Lee jetted off to the Center East to assist Korea broaden its attain in strategic industries corresponding to nuclear power, nationwide protection, and AI. On the similar time, he labored to construct fashions for cooperation that will maintain South Korea’s amicable relations with nations all through the area.
Lee visited Korean Park in Ankara, the place he paid tribute to Turkish veterans who fought within the Korean Struggle on the park’s Korean Struggle memorial. The remembrance was the completion on his 10-day journey to 4 nations within the Center East and Africa. Korean Park is a logo of South Korea-Turkey relations that was constructed to honor the Turkish troopers who gave their lives in the course of the Korean Struggle.
Lee met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Monday. In a joint assertion, Lee described Turkey as a “brotherly nation” that fought alongside South Korea in the course of the 1950-53 Korean Struggle.
Lee’s go to to the Center East — with stops within the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Turkey — was about greater than promoting Korea, as a substitute proposing a brand new mutually useful financial mannequin for working collectively to succeed in markets in third nations, specializing in qualitatively bettering the relationships that South Korea has fashioned with every nation.
Discussions with the UAE on protection cooperation involving joint manufacturing and collectively getting into a third-party market are a consultant instance of the kind of cooperation Lee sought all through his journey.
“That is completely different from merely promoting a packet of ramyeon. It should inexorably result in our nations changing into nearer,” Lee instructed reporters on the presidential jet on Sunday.
With Turkey, the proposed cooperation would transcend Korean corporations getting into the Turkish market. Lee signed a memorandum of understanding with Erdoğan about public-private partnership highway tasks in third nations all through the Center East and Eurasia.
In Egypt, with which Korea has not had as a lot alternate lately, Lee and his counterpart agreed to cooperate on AI.
The brand new mannequin of diplomacy demonstrated by Lee on this journey proposes fashions for cooperation with counterparts somewhat than decreasing them to export markets. The Lee administration views this new mannequin as a approach to embrace not solely the Huge 3 Center Jap nations but additionally the World South, which require Korea’s superior know-how and capital.
“The UAE talked about that the earlier administration had solely targeted on promoting Korean merchandise and didn’t categorical curiosity in forging deeper cooperative relations, which they mentioned was disappointing,” a presidential workplace official mentioned.
“Nevertheless, this time we approached them to improve bilateral relations right into a ‘partnership,’ and we anticipate this strategy to supply significant outcomes for each nations,” the official mentioned.
It’s additionally vital that the Lee administration has mentioned the that means of peace on the Korean Peninsula, which had light in the course of the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, with European nations like France and Germany, along with World South nations.
Throughout his tour, Lee repeatedly defined his administration’s concentrate on dialogue with regards to North Korea. He additionally obtained help for this strategy.
By Um Ji-won, workers reporter; Shin Hyeong-cheol, workers reporter
Please direct questions or feedback to [english@hani.co.kr]
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